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Dying to Work: Effects of Unemployment Insurance on Health

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Abstract

Using administrative data for Upper Austrian workers from 2003–2013, we show that an extension in unemployment insurance (UI) duration increases unemployment length and impacts worker physical and mental health. These effects vary by gender. Specifically, we find that women eligible for an additional 9 weeks of UI benefits fill fewer opioid and antidepressant prescriptions and experience a lower likelihood of filing a disability claim, as compared to non-eligible unemployed women. Moreover, estimates indicate within-household spillovers for young children. For men, we find that extending UI benefit duration increases the likelihood of a cardiac event and eventual disability retirement filing.

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  • Alexander Ahammer & Analisa Packham, 2020. "Dying to Work: Effects of Unemployment Insurance on Health," Economics working papers 2020-09, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
  • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2020-09
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    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Ahammer & Analisa Packham, 2022. "Disability Insurance Screening and Worker Outcomes," Upjohn Working Papers 22-375, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Jason M. Lindo & Krishna Regmi & Isaac Swensen, 2020. "Stable Income, Stable Family," NBER Working Papers 27753, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Martti Kaila & Emily Nix & Krista Riukula, 2021. "Disparate Impacts of Job Loss by Parental Income and Implications for Intergenerational Mobility," Opportunity and Inclusive Growth Institute Working Papers 53, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    4. Alexander Ahammer & Dominik Grübl & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2020. "The health externalities of downsizing," CDL Aging, Health, Labor working papers 2020-05, The Christian Doppler (CD) Laboratory Aging, Health, and the Labor Market, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    5. Alexander Ahammer & Matthias Fahn & Flora Stiftinger, 2023. "Outside Options and Worker Motivation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10581, CESifo.
    6. José Ignacio Garcia-Pérez & Manuel Serrano-Alarcón & Judit Vall-Castelló, 2024. "Long-term unemployment subsidies and middle-aged disadvantaged workers’ health," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 37(1), pages 1-24, March.
    7. Acton, Riley & Khafaji-King, Jo Al & Smith, Austin C., 2023. "Suspended from Work and School? Impacts of Layoff Events and Unemployment Insurance on Student Disciplinary Incidence," IZA Discussion Papers 16423, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Anna Hill & Isabel Musse & Yonatan Ben-Shalom & William Shaw, "undated". "The Impact of Local Labor Market Conditions on Opioid Transactions: Evidence from the COVID-19 Pandemic," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 190b1e09d8804afe9be9ad3e3, Mathematica Policy Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment insurance; health; disability; opioids;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I38 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Government Programs; Provision and Effects of Welfare Programs
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J18 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Public Policy

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